Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 4530

A sale with a right of redemption is the seller’s reservation, at the time of sale, of the right to recover the thing sold in return for repayment of the price and expenses. Its import. The contract is deemed a loan secured by a possessory pledge, and all provisions governing possessory pledges apply to it, including the invalidity of an agreement to acquire ownership of the immovable property sold, for the protection of the seller. - The judgment’s characterization of the contract as a loan secured by a possessory pledge, as inferred from its terms and the terms of the lease contract drawn up between the same parties concerning the same immovable property that is the subject of the sale contract, and that the female appellant did not repay the price and expenses within the period specified in the leasing agreement, namely one year. Its making repayment of the price a condition for the invalidity of the sale - 892 - of ownership of the immovable property, contrary to the meaning of the text of Article 508 of the Civil Code, which did not stipulate that condition, the import of which is that invalidity in this case attaches to the contract from its inception merely upon the seller’s reservation of his right to recover the thing sold in return for repayment of the price to the purchaser, and this invalidity is not lifted or removed at the time of sale so that it becomes valid pursuant to this provision. Its ruling, on that basis, dismissing the action. A violation of the law and an error in its application requiring its cassation.